Mark Ogden is the Telegraph's Northern Football Correspondent.

Paul Pogba is a loss to Manchester United, but one they had to make

Paul Pogba was not involved with Manchester United’s first-team squad this morning as they trained ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Athletic Bilbao.

He was also omitted from the reserve team for Tuesday’s fixture against West Brom. Two weeks after being left to train with the second string when he was expected to make his first senior start against Ajax at Old Trafford, you would think that the French teenager has become the latest player to fall foul of Sir Alex Ferguson at United.

Two-and-half-years after controversially signing the then-16-year-old from Le Havre – who threatened to report United to Fifa for poaching before dropping their threat – United have now been left angry and stunned by the player’s decision to snub a new contract and instead agree a lucrative four-year deal at Juventus.

There is resentment at Old Trafford towards the player’s representatives, led by the Italian agent Mino Raiola, who senior figures believe has encouraged Pogba to put money before ambition by courting Europe’s biggest clubs.

Whether that is true or otherwise, Pogba has certainly ignored Ferguson’s call, earlier this season, to consider his long-term earning power at United ahead of short-term gain elsewhere.

Ferguson claimed Pogba was being badly advised, he suggested that financial greed was clouding the 18-year-old’s judgement, but United retained hope that the French youngster would come around to their thinking.

As such, Ferguson deployed Rio Ferdinand, a player respected and admired by emerging talent at Old Trafford, to take Pogba under his wing and spell out what staying at United would mean.

Ferdinand himself held United over a barrel when negotiating his own contract with the club in 2005, when interest from Chelsea coincided with his protracted talks over new terms at Old Trafford.

Having rejected the chance to move elsewhere, however, Ferdinand was able to advise Pogba of the potential pitfalls of his negotiating stance, but the player has chosen to move on, regardless of the efforts of Ferguson, Ferdinand and Patrice Evra.

One source at Old Trafford has suggested that Pogba was quite happy to stay and had no desire to leave, but the guidance of his advisors has resulted in him cutting his ties with United.

Losing Pogba is a blow for United. While many supporters have mourned the departure of Ravel Morrison to West Ham in January, the truth is that United had become so exasperated by Morrison’s failure to grasp the nettle that they had little option but to cut him loose.

Pogba is different. A midfielder with real potential, a youngster capable of developing into a dominant figure at the heart of the team, has slipped through United’s fingers.

Clearly, they could have kept him, by coming up with the financial package that would have suited the player and his advisors.

But United’s policy on wages will not be altered by the demands of an 18-year-old with just four substitute appearances under his belt, regardless of his potential.

Ferguson and chief executive David Gill would not enter a wages auction when Manchester City offered Samir Nasri a £170,000-a-week deal to entice him from Arsenal last summer, so the Pogba camp was never going to win the battle.

United’s position on wages, influenced by the club’s owners, the Glazer family, centres on a determination to keep the salary bill no higher than 50 per cent of turnover.

In testing financial times, it is a sensible approach, but in the football world, it can lead to difficulties.

Those clubs, such as Manchester City, who have unlimited resources have been able to outbid United in terms of wages and transfers fees and the ultimate danger is that United could be left behind.

It is a philosophical battle as much as a football one and Paul Pogba has become a victim of that.

If United were pursuing a different financial agenda, a deal would probably have been struck and the teenager could have realised his potential at Old Trafford.

But had United caved in to the demands of an 18-year-old, twenty senior professionals would have been knocking on Gill’s door for a pay hike and that is a price that nobody at Old Trafford was willing to pay.